Chapter 9 - MATEO WITHOUT A NET
Mateo changed once the net disappeared.
Not into a better man.
Not immediately.
First he became furious.
He called me a traitor.
A cop pretending to be family.
A bitter woman who wanted revenge because Dad loved him more.
He said that last part in a voicemail after midnight.
I saved it.
Not for court.
For myself.
Sometimes you need to hear the cruelty spoken clearly so nostalgia cannot soften it later.
Then came fear.
Then bargaining.
He offered to apologize if I would say the recording was taken “under emotional stress.”
I did not answer.
He asked if I would talk to Dad.
I did not answer.
He sent one message:
You know I didn’t mean to hurt anybody.
That one I almost responded to.
Because maybe it was true.
Maybe Mateo did not intend to hurt Daniel Price.
Maybe most damage in the world comes from people who only intended to protect themselves.
It did not matter.
Leaving mattered.
Lying mattered.
Letting our father grab my shoulders and demand I take his place mattered.
My silence toward Mateo became the first consequence he could not charm, cry, or rage his way through.
Dad’s business suffered.
Mom blamed me for that too until Priya sent a formal notice instructing them to stop contacting me about active proceedings.
The truck was eventually released back to me.
It looked worse in daylight.
Bent metal.
Scraped paint.
A vehicle turned into evidence because someone else treated it like entitlement on wheels.
I sold it after the case no longer required it.
People expected that to make me sad.
It didn’t.
I had loved the truck because it represented independence.
Once it became part of their lie, keeping it felt like parking the driveway in my life forever.
So I bought a smaller SUV.
Registered it under protected records.
Changed every account.
Locked every document.
Removed my parents from every emergency contact.
That last one hurt most.
May you like
Not because they deserved the position.
Because removing them meant admitting they had stopped being safe long before the crash.
